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“I did what was best for a coward, not what was best for me. But like I said… I rectified that. The entire team knows how I feel about you, and there are only two more things I need to do.”
He’s trying to rectify a poor choice? My throat is dry, voice raspy. “Two things?”
“The first… the most important… is to apologize and ask you to give me another shot. You said you’d be waiting if I changed my mind, so I’m hoping in the last few days you haven’t found yourself another feller.”
I can’t help but giggle. “Feller?”
“I’m trying to be charming,” he says, moving all the way into me and taking me by the hips. “But seriously… I’m ready to jump all in with you, Danica. It was stupid of me to have those fears.”
“No.” I shake my head furiously. “I understand where you were coming from.”
Camden bends his head to get closer to me. “Of course you do. Because you’re amazing and I want to be like you when I grow up.”
“The fact that you’re standing here in front of me right now means you’re kind of amazing too.”
His hands move from my hips to my face, and he dips a little closer. Beautiful eyes lock onto mine. “You and I have a tether between us. The crash bonds us in a way no two people would want to be bonded, and yet I cannot imagine my life without you. I’m falling in love with you, Danica, and I don’t want to hide it anymore. I sort of want to scream it, actually.”
“I’m falling in love with you too,” I reply as I close my eyes briefly. When I open them, I admit, “I might even already be there. I can’t remember what it was like to come to that realization. It was such a slow build with Mitch over many years.” I wait for him to tense up but he only smiles in understanding. “With you, I’m sucked into a tempest of emotions and it feels volatile and wonderful all at once.”
“I’ve never been in love before. I only know I’ve never felt this way about anyone. I never imagined I could ever feel this way. You’re the first thing I think about when I wake up, the last thing I think about before I close my eyes, and there are a million times more in between. When I’m near you, I feel like I’m about to come out of my skin and at the same time, when you touch me, I’m so at peace, I don’t think anything can bother me. I don’t know if that’s what love is, but it should be.”
Tears truly sting now and I blink them back. “I think you know exactly what love is.”
I expect a kiss but to my dismay, Camden lifts his head to look at something behind me, only to give me his regard again. “All the hockey parents are watching us.”
“Oh God,” I say, starting to fall into him… to bury my embarrassment in his chest.
His hands cupping my cheeks don’t let me move, though, and instead, he tips my face to kiss me. His lips are soft, his tongue gentle as he makes me see stars.
When he pulls back, he asks, “Am I forgiven?”
“For what?” I ask numbly, my lips still tingling.
His roguish smile tells me he finds me amusing and his lips on my forehead say he loves that about me.
Camden pulls away as some of the kids come out of the locker room, meeting up with their parents and walking out. Taking my hand, Camden says, “One more thing to do.”
He leads me closer to the locker room door just as Travis emerges. His eyes immediately land on Camden and widen. A smile breaks free as he takes him in, then his gaze drops to where our hands are clasped.
To my relief, the smile doesn’t waver but his eyes flick between the two of us. “You’re holding hands.”
“We are,” Camden says, holding them up for a better look. “You okay with this?”
He nods, his cheeks turning a little red.
Camden drops my hand and squats in front of Travis. “You know I like your mom, right?”
He nods again, his smile disappearing as things have turned serious.
“I have to be honest, buddy… I more than like her.”
“You mean you love her?” he asks hesitantly, his gaze shifting over Camden’s shoulder to me and then back again.
“Yeah. And I know this might be a little weird and totally out of left field, but I love you too. Always have because you’re Mitch’s kid and I loved him. I want you to know that I’m here for you… whatever you need. You and your mom are a package deal to me. I need to have you both, okay?”
Another nod. Seems the cat jerked the poor child’s tongue clear out of his head. But then he recovers and asks, “Can we go have ice cream to celebrate?”
Camden cranes his neck to look back at me. “What do you say, Mom? Can we do ice cream?”
“We can do ice cream,” I say with a faux huff of annoyance.
Straightening, Camden reaches his hand out to me and I lace my fingers with his. He drapes his other arm across Travis’s shoulders and we walk out of the hockey complex together.
